I am not sure if this is standard for the mast head but on my mast there is only one hole, a single threaded 5/16th hole which a Davis Windex screws into perfectly. This is great if the only thing you want to mount to the top of your mast is a Windex wind indicator, however if you want to mount other things, like an anchor light, or a VHF antenna, or perhaps like myself all three, a single mount point posses a slight problem.
Now I know I could use the existing threaded hole for the Windex, then use a bracket to mount the anchor light to the side of the mast near the top and another bracket on the other side of the mast for the antenna. The thing is, for me, I really don’t like the idea of drilling holes in the mast. Maybe 4 extra holes in the mast won’t make a bit of difference but I still don’t like the idea. Especially when I think I have a solution that will require no extra holes in the mast.
I happen to have a nice piece of Aluminum flat bar that I used to fashion mounting rails for my solar panel. My plan is to use about 30 cm (1 foot) of the Aluminum flat bar to hold the Windex, anchor light, and VHF antenna
I happen to have a nice piece of Aluminum flat bar that I used to fashion mounting rails for my solar panel. My plan is to use about 30 cm (1 foot) of the Aluminum flat bar to hold the Windex, anchor light, and VHF antenna. I would mount the Windex on the port side of the Aluminum bar, the anchor light in the middle, and the antenna on the starboard side of the bar. The Aluminum bar will sit flat against the top of the mast and secured in place with a 5/16th bolt into the threaded hole in the mast head.
This is just a general layout idea. I have to take some time and properly position everything.
I started with how much space the Windex needs to spin with the wind. The Windex needs about 20 cm (8 inches) of clearance. I would like about 5 cm from the end of the Aluminum bar as buffer on either end, so with those known numbers the minimum length of the flat bar is 30cm.
The next step will be to determine where the threaded hole is in the mast head, I know it is not centred. Once I have the mast head hole location I can start the hole layout for each item. The anchor light was designed to be screwed down onto something, but with my plan I will need to use a pair of small bolts and nuts. The bolts will need to be flat heads and counter sunk into the underside of the flat bar with the nuts securing the anchor light down. I think I will be using some lock tight on the threads for the Anchor light, the Windex, and the 5/16th bolt just for a bit of extra piece of mind.
I had intended to update this post as I made and assembled the mast head bracket. Instead I will create new posts as the bracket progresses to prevent one massive post. You can click here: Mast Head Bracket to see all the posts or you can click here Fabricating the Mast Head Bracket for the next post in this series
